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Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a warrior based country that was once one of 13 city states that made up Canania. It's the home of Marshall's parents and ancestry. Society Dalmatian society is war based. The males are trained to be soldiers and nothing else. The females do all ordinary work. They have a monarchy-based government. The only difference is that Dalmatia has two kings. The General King is responsible for the army. The Citizen King is responsible for everything else. Military The most recognizable feature of Dalmatia is its military. The army numbers around 100,000 strong and the soldiers that make it up are the best trained in Canania. The training starts when they are only puppies. Training When they are born, Dalmatian puppies are inspected by an elder. Any who show signs of playfulness are taken to a secret place and left there to die. Marshall was one of the puppies who failed the test. Those who pass are put through brutal training starting at just 6 months of age. The females stop theirs at 8 months. The males continue theirs until they are 18 months old, the brutality increasing as they age. This training is designed to eliminate any weaknesses and many males are killed during the process. Those who survive join the army. Here are some of the tests Dalmatian males go through during their training. The Test of Toughness (females endure this too) - This is a bizarre ritual that involves Dalmatian puppies being tied to wooden posts in pairs, each pair having one male and one female, and their trainers whipping them until they literally bleed. The ones who stand the longest are given high honors. The test of toughness is usually used to ensure their puppies are tough enough to endure intense pain, but is occasionally used as a form of punishment. Steal The Rat - This test involves a dead rat on a rock guarded by soldiers bearing whips. The puppies are sent out in groups, numbering between 6 and 10 puppies each, and tasked to steal the rat without getting caught. If a soldier spots one, he will let loose with the whip. This goes on until one puppy steals the rat and gets out of sight without the soldiers noticing. Failing this test results in severe punishment. The test is designed to teach a puppy to be sneaky, and it works well considering the fact that the trainers don't feed their recruits sufficiently. This means that the skills that the test is supposed to teach can mean the difference between a meal and a very bloody beating. Survive The Winter - This test is one of the most crucial. It involves puppies in training being forced into the wild to fend for themselves. Passing the test requires good survival skills. It also requires the puppies to come back alive at the end of the winter. Basically, either a puppy survives the winter or he dies trying. The test is designed to build survival skills because the army often camps in the wild and survives off of whatever they can find. Failing this test results in death. Those who do survive are given high honors. Battle Training - By now, the puppies are around a year old and are ready to prepare themselves for battle. They are given dummy weapons, like wooden swords and tip-less spears, and dual each other. This is one of the deadliest tests they take during training; even the dummy weapons can be lethal if used correctly. The test claims more lives than any other, but it has to be so because they are developing the skills they will need on the battlefield. The Final Test - This test is one of guts. The puppies in training must sneak out of their barracks at night and, well... let's just put it this way. Every culture has its own version of a males right of passage. Dalmatian males can't gain that right until they prove that they can kill in cold blood. They normally test themselves on unsuspecting campers, but sometimes test themselves on each other. But the murder itself isn't the key to passing the test. The key is, as usual, not to get caught. Doing so earns the failures the good old beating. Now, I know what the admins are thinking : Wait a minute, killing in cold blood? Are you insane? That's earning the page a deletion. Before you do so, let me remind you that this test is part of Dalmatian culture. It ensures that the puppies are tough enough for battle, where they basically go berserk. It's been a part of their way of life for thousands and thousands of years. If a puppy passes the test, his training is complete and he enters the army. Arsenal Dalmatian soldiers are known as hoplites, heavily armored infantry who fight in a phalanx formation. This formation is perfect for a front on attack, but is extremely vulnerable when attacked from the flanks or the rear. Thus, the phalanx is mainly used defensively in areas where enemies cannot envelop their flanks. The phalanx is typically 10 ranks thick. The front 3 ranks lower their spears for maximum effectiveness. Here are the weapons a Dalmatian hoplite carries, and, altogether, it's very heavy. No wonder they have to be so tough. The Dori - This is the primary weapon of a Dalmatian hoplite. It's basically a 10-foot-long spear with a leaf-shaped tip at the front end. A butt-spike at the rear provides balance and a second spearhead. Dalmatian hoplites typically hold their dories vertically (with the head on top) when not in use and horizontally when in phalanx formation. These spears outrange most other weapons, making them highly effective in phalanx formation. The Xiphos - This is the secondary weapon of a Dalmatian hoplite. It's a 3 to 4-foot long Steel straight-sword. The blade is double-edged, making the Xiphos useful for hacking at their enemies. Other versions of the weapon have curved blades and are used for mutilating any enemy that dares step withing range. Dalmatian hoplites typically keep their Xyphos sheathed, unsheathing only of they loose their dori , or if the phalanx breaks apart (which doesn't happen very often). The Hoplon - This is what gives the hoplite its name. It's a 3-foot wide shield that consists of a 2-inch-thick bowl-shaped piece of wood, that's so dense it will sink when put in water, covered with a 1-inch-thick sheet of steel. The Hoplon weighs around 30 pounds. Dalmatian hoplites typically carry their shields with their left paw and their spears in their right. In phalanx formation, they turn their shields around 90 degrees to the right, in unison, so that they overlap. A leather strap on one side of the rim and a handle on the other enables a Dalmatian hoplite to apply a lot of force on the shield, especially when a horde of attackers slams into them. The shields often have personal images painted on their faces. This can make for a dazzling phalanx. The shields also have an overhanging rim that is sharpened to a point, allowing it to be used as a weapon. The Helmet - This is a piece of armor for a Dalmatian hoplite. It's cast from a single piece of steel and encompasses the entire head, offering maximum protection to that area. The catch is that it severely restricts their hearing and heavily narrows their vision. Plus, they weigh around 20 pounds! Most Dalmatian helmets are blank (and are often painted a variety of different colors as a result), but some are adorned with a crest made of horse hair. Those on officers' helmets run down the middle, while those on the generals' helmets run from side to side. The General King's helmet crest is decorated in a striped patter of alternating colors, often white and red. The Armor - Dalmatian hoplites wear two layers of armor. The inner layer is lamellar armor, made of multiple layers of cloth, leather, and steel. This alone can withstand a good spear thrust. But with laser based weapons now common, Dalmatians also wear a 1.5-inch-thick steel cuirass over the lamellar for additional torso protection. The Greaves - Even with all that armor on the legs are still vulnerable to attack, so Dalmatian hoplites wear steel greaves on their legs to protect them. They wear armored sandals to protect their feet. Modern Changes - In a world of technological innovation, Dalmatian hoplites adapted surprisingly easily. They still wear their heavy armor and wield the same weapons, but they now wear a pup pack similar to the ones use by the PAW Patrol. The pack contains two mechanical arms that have a large amount of articulation. The left one carries the shield, while the right one wields the weapon. Besides adding around 40 pounds to the arsenal weight, it also allows Dalmatian hoplites to keep their traditional tactics while adapting them to the modern world. Culture Dalmatians are very religious. They hold an annual festival, lasting around a week, to honor the gods. Moving troops out of Dalmatia during the festival is forbidden as doing so is thought to bring bad luck. If you plan to visit Dalmatia, you might want to reconsider because Dalmatia is a closed society meaning they do not allow visitors to enter unless it has something to do with the army. Even today, Dalmatians continue their traditional lifestyle (with some modernization of course). Relations with PAW Patrol Dalmatia is surprisingly friendly toward the PAW Patrol considering their ferocity. This is because Marshall was born in Dalmatia but was discarded because he showed playfulness in him, the one thing Dalmatians cannot allow. Marshall's biological parents visit him occasionally and have even given him his own hoplite armor to use in battle. Marshall has yet to use it for battle, tending to keep it in his pup house.